


Trust In Me

by WannabeAlien



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Death, FUCK, I hate myself for this, Not Beta Read, Taako has feelings, it's not even good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 15:46:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13954830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WannabeAlien/pseuds/WannabeAlien
Summary: Taako comes face to face with what he fears most: his own feelings





	Trust In Me

**Author's Note:**

> FUCK!!!!
> 
> This was inspired by a tumblr prompt I saw a while ago and can't find now, which was basically "what would happen to Taako if Angus died? Would he try and resurrect his Magic Boy or would he just suffer?" I went with both!

Taako’s heart was practically beating out of his chest. Blood rushed in his ears and he felt his breath stuck in his chest, painfully aware of how still he was being. It was…...it was so stupid. So  _ stupid. _ People rushed by him, knocking into his shoulders and jostling him around but he wasn’t….he didn’t…..he couldn’t move. He just...he couldn’t do anything and it left rage boiling just underneath the skin. At some point someone murmured in his ear, someone with a deeper voice and large hands that guided him into a seat, then sat next to him. Another person scrambled onto the seat on his other side and there they were, waiting. 

 

Waiting.

 

For what?

 

His hands shook as he ran them through his long hair, untangling his braid and ripping at knots that had formed during their last adventure. Sure, that was mostly over by now, the Hunger was gone and everyone lived relatively peaceful lives but….but…..it hadn't been the same. Taako had felt that gnawing sense of being trapped boiling over. So he gathered the old gang and they’d gone through a dungeon or two, well at least that was before they returned home to see everything in disarray. There was shouting, more people rushing by where Taako and ….he realized it was Merle and Magnus… were sitting. Taako jumped out of his chair, spine ramrod straight as he took a step forward.

 

Usually, he could keep his cool.

 

When it came to his magic boy? He could often pretend like he barely tolerated the kid. But the flu this year was taking more and more souls and  _ fuck  _ Ango was  _ so sick _ by the time they came home. He’d made up some excuse about not wanting to bother them and everything in his brain was screaming at him at once. He felt a million things at once, but it all boiled down to pure desperation as they rushed him to the nearest clinic. Merle just couldn’t cut it, they couldn’t risk any of his spells failing not with him declining so fast.

 

The cleric in charge came out, a grim look on her face, and Taako felt the wind knocked out of him. Magnus was there when his knees gave out, Merle was patting his hand as he was seated as she……

 

Angus McDonald was unfairly taken by the flu.

 

Taako hardly noticed Lup crouching in front of him as Barry and Kravitz stood nearby, waiting to see if Taako wanted to say anything to Angus before they shepherded him off to the Astral Plane. Lup carefully wiped his tears away (when had he started crying?) and took his shoulders. She whispered to him calmly and when the breath was choked out of his chest she went through the motions with him to keep his breathing steady and flowing. When the ringing in his ears finally came to a stop, he was faced with three reapers that, despite being familiar, made him feel utterly hopeless. 

 

Taako said his goodbyes.

 

Well, not in so many words. He saw that boy, his skin pale and his entire form withdrawn and he nearly lost it again. Instead of saying goodbye (hadn’t he said enough goodbyes for more than a lifetime?) he stormed out and ….well….he screamed. He spent the better part of a day screaming in the woods, scaring the locals of the small town they’d rushed to, and he wallowed in his overwhelming misery. 

 

_ Everyone here is just ...dust. _

 

He’d never wanted it to be Angus. There was a point where Angus meant nothing to him, where everyone on this plane meant nothing to him after getting his memories back, but that time was over. He’d built bonds whether he liked it or not and here he was now, getting those torn from him. Purposely he’d neglected thinking about the fact he was an Elf, that he’d stand by as all his squishy human friends passed, unchangeable. Practically, anyway. Now? Now he was faced with that reality and it….it scared him. 

 

The funeral was a nice affair. 

 

So many people attended that Taako had a hard time keeping track of who was who, though he was only half aware of the entire thing. He didn’t pay attention because he was too absorbed in his own thoughts, his own “what if’s” and trying to control his shaking hands. 

 

Taako didn’t cry at the funeral.

 

Taako didn’t cry after the funeral.

 

Taako wouldn’t cry again until much later after everyone had time to mourn and move on. Kravitz held him at night and told him he was proud of how he was handling this. How he was glad he was starting to heal, even if it wasn’t obvious. He allowed himself to be coddled if only because he was sorry, just a little bit, for lying to Kravitz. To Lup. To Barry.

 

Taako wore a red robe for dramatic effect, to remind himself what was on the line here and what he’d lost before. His hands shook as he scribbled the last of the runes into the circle, perfectly placed like he had memorized from those books and those drawings from those dark places you really shouldn’t go if you wanted to stay on the path of light. Taako had never much been one for what was inherently good for others, mostly just for what was good for him. This? This was good for him. Taako was usually good out here, but this time he needed to rush in. There wasn’t any time because he was sure at least Lup was onto what he was trying to do. They’d been so busy though that she hadn’t had a spare moment to talk to him, to stop him, and for that he was grateful.

 

Taako muttered the incantation necessary to get the show on the road, gaze boring into the clay figure in the middle of the circle. He channeled as much magical energy as he could, using his heightened emotional state to fuel him in his tireless effort. He knew he probably couldn’t bring back a whole body, but a soul? With a vessel to rest in? It was worth a try. His lips trembled as every hollow moment spent without his magical boy ticked by, his  _ son _ absent from his side. 

 

Eventually, something gave in. 

 

Taako felt his knees buckle as the last of his strength was sapped from his body. There was a shout behind him, something shocked and then enraged. He wasn’t focused on that, he didn’t care about that, what he cared about was the figure in front of him, standing.

 

“Hello, Sir! I feel like you’re going to get in a lot of trouble for this!”

 

Taako smiled, his chest feeling light before he succumbed to darkness. 


End file.
